240 horses and 500 dogs – #126

We went to Château de Chantilly today, more or less on a whim. I had it filed somewhere behind Versailles, which turned out to be unfair to a place with stables for 240 horses and up to 500 hunting dogs.

Jean Aubert began building them in 1719 for Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, who wanted something worthy of his rank. You feel the ambition as soon as you walk in. A palace for animals, with three to five dressage demonstrations a day. The horses had a proper schedule, too.

Outside, André Le Nôtre, who also laid out Versailles, had been equally firm with the garden. Everything is straight and symmetrical because somebody wanted nature to follow instructions.

Then there's the Hameau, a mock farming village where the nobility could play at country life. Roughly what our kids do when they play shop, with a larger landscaping budget. Marie-Antoinette later had her own built at Versailles.

But the thing I keep coming back to is a calendar.

The château library holds the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a book of hours the Limbourg brothers started around 1412, with a painted scene for each month. February shows people warming themselves by a fire, the wall cut away so you can see inside.

(I didn't see the original, by the way. It's almost never on show, and since the 1980s the museum has displayed a facsimile instead.)

Six hundred years later, you can still tell the month from the picture. More than most calendars manage.

A calendar is something you agree to look at every day for a year. That seems worth choosing on purpose, rather than accepting whatever arrives from the insurance company.

I've put the 2027 calendars I'd actually hang up, all from European studios, on one page. (Will probably add to that list in the weeks to come…)

There's also a much smaller way to count the days below.

If you're new around here: Every week, I share 5 of the nicest products from Europe I've discovered in the past 7 days.

I scout, you explore.

With love 🌞
Jakob

P.S.: The Mechanical models by 11i11 saat were the most-clicked product in last week's issue. The Weigh Lighter Backpack by Db came second, one click behind.

P.P.S.: If you find something that belongs here (also if you made it yourself), send it.

P.P.P.S.: Want to follow along over the next months, with all the spots and addresses we actually end up at? That's what Whereabouts is for, our seven little printed magazines from the road.

Twenty-four matches, numbered one through twenty-four. Light a candle each day and work your way toward Christmas. Dutch label mo man tai makes Poppy Punch in colors that match its Dip Dye candles, tucked into a matchbook small enough to mail cheaply. An advent calendar that gets smaller as December goes on (a welcome change).

Jonas Hejduk compressed a traditional rug pattern from 10,186 KB to 12 KB, then had the reduced image digitally woven in wool and cotton on a jacquard loom. Designed in Rotterdam and produced in Heeze, it comes in an edition of seven. The filename is the product name, and the blur is permanent (you can stop waiting for it to load).

Thanks to my brother for sending this one my way, deliberately bad image and all.

Every stripe on this cabinet is rye straw. RudaStudio in Odesa inlays it over solid ash and sets the whole thing on brass legs. The straw comes from Western Ukraine, where an 80-year-old grandfather named Orestes collects it for the studio (I would very much like to meet Orestes). The listing quotes 14 to 16 weeks and adjustable dimensions, in case 1.7 metres doesn't fit your wall.

The cylindrical backrest on ARWENN's TURN leaves room to sit sideways or lean against it from behind, depending on how formally you approach sitting. Designed by Moritz Walter and made in Latvia, it pairs solid ash with Kvadrat's Vanir wool upholstery, designed by Raf Simons. It also arrives flat-packed, in a box just ten centimeters deep (a useful detail if you've ever moved a lounge chair).

Cameraman Benedict Heinzl is building VOLTA, an Austrian espresso machine that runs on cinema camera batteries. It promises adjustable pressure profiles and replaceable parts, though it's still a prototype and the details may change. Since you can't buy one yet, I brought my Rocket Appartamento on this trip (packing lightly remains a work in progress). This looks great, though, and I'd love to try one on a future trip.

Thanks to Ivo for sending it my way.